Landmark Survey of Queer Youth Published

Results of !OutProud!/Oasis Internet Survey of Queer and
Questioning Youth Released

San Rafael, California -- !OutProud!, The National
Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth and Oasis
Magazine have announced the publication of the results of the
first-ever survey of queer and questioning youth on the Internet. A
summary report of responses from the survey, which included more than
150 questions and ran from August 15 through October 31, 1997, is now
available to the public on the World Wide Web.

Early in 1997 !OutProud! and Oasis embarked on this ambitious
project with the goal of understanding more about the queer youth
communities they serve. The result was a survey which explored a wide
range of issues in the lives of queer youth: school, coming out,
sexual activity and health, the role of the media in forming
self-image, harassment and suicide, religion and spirituality,
community, relationships, and the future.

More than 2,000 youth - the youngest ten years old - responded.
The average respondent was 18 years old; 78% of all respondents were
male, 21% female, and 1% transgendered or "other." A few key findings
of the survey include:

The typical respondent first realized that they might be queer
at 12 years of age, but it typically took them another three years
before they accepted their orientation.

Youth are coming out earlier than ever, telling their friends
or family for the first time at 16 years old, on average;
typically, they tell their best friend first and the response is
overwhelmingly positive. 75% of all respondents have come out to
at least one person.

Youth are becoming sexually active at earlier ages, with the
typical queer teen reporting their first sexual experience at 14
years of age. Although they believe that they are adequately
informed on issues of safer sex, a significant number report that
they have had, or would have, unprotected oral or anal sex.

More than half of all boys and girls responding to the survey
indicate that they want to marry someone of the same gender, and
even more say that they want to have children of their own.

10% of the queer youth watching the "Coming Out" episode of
Ellen gained the courage, from watching the show, to come out for
the first time. This finding provided the basis for Oasis and
!OutProud! to launch their new Save Ellen campaign at
http://www.oasismag.com/save-ellen/, to help protect this valuable
resource for queer youth.

"Due to the nature of the Internet, this is the first-ever survey
to have 'glass closet' access into the lives of youth who have not
yet told anyone they are queer," said Jeff Walsh, founder of Oasis
Magazine. "With the results of this survey, we have data that
pinpoints exactly what it is that we must all do to better advocate
for the needs of queer and questioning youth and to provide them with
support."

Oasis Magazine is read by over 40,000 people online each month,
and is the oldest and most widely-read publication for queer youth.
!OutProud!'s resources, which include the QueerAmerica online and
Lambda Youth Network referral services, and Channel Q News, are used
by more than 100,000 unique individuals on the Internet and America
Online each year.

"Never before have we had such a window into the lives of queer
and questioning youth," said Christopher Kryzan, Executive Director
of !OutProud! "Thousands of youth across the country - gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender - responded, typically spending 30 minutes
to tell us more about themselves in ways that help us understand, for
the first time, who they are, how they live, and of what they hope
and dream."

This first-ever survey was undertaken with the goals of providing
information to community service organizations for use in their
outreach efforts, to social service agencies providing services to
at-risk youth, to those organizing queer youth in the community and
at school, and to those who set government policy, so that they may
be accurately informed about the issues these youth face, and the
needs which must be met. The survey was unique in its ability to
reach in-the-closet youth, one of the most invisible of all
minorities.

The survey took approximately thirty minutes to complete, and was
delivered electronically via a special Web site. The results can be
viewed online or downloaded as a 60-page report at www.oasismag.com/survey/.

About !OutProud!

!OutProud!, The National Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgender Youth was founded in 1993 to provide advocacy,
information, resources and support with the goal of helping queer
youth to become happy, successful, confident and vital gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender adults. The organization pioneered outreach
to in-the-closet and openly queer teens through America Online and
the Internet, and today serves more than 100,000 youth each year with
referrals and self-help resources, and activists and educators with
organizing and training materials.

!OutProud! is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation based in San
Rafael, California, and provides services both to individuals and to
other agencies working for the benefit of queer youth.

About Oasis Magazine

Oasis has published monthly since its inception in December 1995.
It features over 50 young columnists ranging in age from 13 to their
mid 20s. Over 40,000 readers visit Oasis each month at
www.oasismag.com to read about their lives as queer and questioning
youth. A larger queer youth online service is expected to be launched
by Oasis Magazine in Summer 1998.